08 May 2011

The River

She breathes as its currentembroiders seaweedthrough tiny holes in spirit.Water slides beneath her. Branches tug at her hair, snapand become part of the flow.The river supersedes her.

In the morningmist rises and evaporates. Released from darknessshe eddies,a silver white glistenfloating on the Mighty Mo.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~On Wednesday this week, the body of a missing young woman was found in the Missouri River in my community near where we walk our dogs. Every year somebody drowns. Foul play is suspected in this instance, but no one knows what happened. This piece was inspired by that event, and by a wordle made up of the words of poets many of you visit every day. Look for a new wordle every week, and visit the work of other inventive poets at A Wordling Whirl of Sundays. We'd love to have you join the group and write with us. A new wordle is posted every Sunday night at 12:01 a.m. Mountain Standard Time.

~Mike, Thank you for your visit and comments. My writing is often from the personal...sometimes I don't even recognize that until later. ~Annell, Thanks!~Mariya, Thank you for your commments and visit.~Mary, It is a tragedy. She was 24 years old, and ran with a rough crowd. For that reason she will likely be forgotten by the community at large rather quickly. Some things get swept under rugs.

Really well done. The natural flow of the wordle words, and yet you maintain a gentle, awareness of the delicate subject you chose to write about. Wonderful Brenda, you honor her though others, as you have said, might soon dismiss her.

A sad story, beautifully told. I love "The river supersedes her." - simple, but frightening. And the second stanza, how the night gives way to day, and the mist rises and turns back to vapor, revealing that "silver white glisten" - very effective.